The Dirtbombs, 'Party Store' (In The Red)

Ever since the mid-'90s electronica boom, rock and techno have had a patchy history, at best. But Detroit's Dirtbombs acknowledge their roots in both with this raucous album of techno covers. And Party Store earns its title -- reverent and grungy in equal measure. Singer-guitarist Mick Collins veers from a Count Dracula croon (see the twitchy "Sharevari") to soulful testifying (Inner City's "Good Life"). A 20-minute throwdown with Carl Craig on his "Bug in the Bassbin" loses steam, but garage takes on Derrick May's epochal "Strings of Life" and the Aztec Mystic's roiling "Knights of the Jaguar" are a blistering revelation.